Calvin University has received a $1 million grantto research what professor Carl Plantinga calls "an engine of attention." But the money isn't going to the engineering department.
Professor Carl Plantinga is a professor of film and media at Calvin University and the author of Moving Viewers: American Film and Spectator’s Experience. He is now leading a new research project that looks at how movies shape morals.
“It’s like you’re on a train track and the conductor takes you down a path where he or she is going to give you a strong impetus to think and feel a certain way about what you are seeing. That can have a marked impact on us," said Plantinga.
Funding for the grant comes from the Templeton Religion Trust's initiative called "Art Seeking Understanding."
As director of the project, Plantinga will be joined by Michigan State University Professor Allison Eden, who will serve as the project's co-director. Also joining the team are film theorist Murray Smith and Vanderbilt University psychologist Daniel Levin.
“Films and film characters can move us deeply, can leave an impression, can imprint themselves into our memories,” said Plantinga. “These stories we see on screens are pervasive and powerful. They aren’t going away, so we are asking ‘is there some way to understand their power on us better and how they might have a positive impact on our lives?’”
Plantinga hopes that the project will be meaningful to more people than academic researchers, bringing "valuable insight" to those who make movies and to those who watch them.
